NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Keaggan" data-source="post: 8019806" data-attributes="member: 7025002">Under its scorching heat, the noon sun drains you of vital energy. You are fatigued and wary from your long chase. Those cannibals are hunting you. It's not personal to them; they need to feed there tribe, and they have cornered their prey. With weapons in hand, they move in for the kill. With no more options left, you must turn and face the horror. It's time to fight for your life.In this part, we will cover how Combat, Damage, and Recovery work. The first part will focus on Combat, diving into what actions you can take, movement, cover, and skill contests. The last section encompasses the types of damage that you can take and how recovery functions. So, let's dive into Combat Rules.As always, give your feedback and critique.-Keaggan_____________________________________________"Who we are and who we need to be are two very different things." - Carl COMBATCombat is a serious business, and every action can have grave consequences; thus, time is slowed down to a couple of seconds per turn. Most lethal engagements are over in a few rounds; therefore, you typically don't take a lot of actions. Combat is fast and violent, and usually, whoever acts first wins. Most fights can be won BEFORE they ever start. You aren't an action star who can shrug off bullet wounds easily or walk into a room full of people then walk out unscathed. No matter how good you are, no matter how much of a veteran fighter you are, a single lucky shot from a gun or just being outnumbered by far less skilled people will end your day...permanently.The only sure way to not die in a fight is to never be in one in the first place. But sometimes you have no choice, or you feel it's the best course of action at the time. When that happens, the rules below will help you resolve the process.Unlike most other tasks in Sticks, the severe nature of combat elicits the necessity of additional rules. The rules aim to emulate the brutal life of the setting and the lasting consequences of your actions. They will take you through the start of combat until the end.INITIATIVETurn order is typically handled in a logical way. Whoever acts first, goes first. No initiative needed. Whenever two or more parties are fully ready for combat, then Initiative is used. This can mean both sides have their weapons draw or after someone makes the first combative move. Initiative comes into play when multiple people are trying to act at the same time.Example 1: You are having a stair down as the conversation starts to go south. The person you are talking with an NPC pulls out a knife and tries to stab you. You get your Close Defense because you can see the attack coming. However, even if you had a higher Initiative, the NPC's action still happens first, then you and everyone else get an action based on Initiative.Example 2: You have your gun pointed at an NPC, you can pull the trigger at will. Then everyone else may take an Action in their Initiative order after your Action is concluded.Everyone has a static Initiative, which is equal to their Dexterity score + the Perception modifier + your two highest Combat Skills.ActionsOnce combat has started, each person, whether they are a PC or an NPC, may take ONE action per round. The Actions you can do are listed here.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Aim – Spend one round to gain half of your range combat skill (minimum of +1) to use the next round. You can keep doing this each round till you reach skill max.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blind Attack – When you can't see your target because of darkness, shooting around a corner, or trying to hit a target behind an object roll at a -6. If you hit roll for random location.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Defend – Do your utmost to avoid all incoming attacks by taking no other action than defending yourself. Receive a +1 to Defense score or add the same combat skill that is being used to attack you, whichever is higher. You may not attack this round. This is a proactive ability that must be used prior to an incoming attack and lasts until your next turn.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Determined Attack – You charge forward toward your target forfeiting your defense score to gain a +1 per 2 defense you lose rounded up. For example, you have a Close Defense score of 7; therefore, you would gain +4 to your attack. 7 divided by 2 = 3.5 rounded up to +4. How much you can gain is decided by what type of attack you are taking. If it is Unarmed or Melee, then used Close if it is Small Arms, Weaponry, or Heavy Weapons use Range. Your Defense score is 0 until your next turn.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Grapple –Attempt to grab hold of a person or part of their body. There are three degrees of being grappled—Partial, Advantage & Full. First, follow the Targeted Attack rules. For every success/crit you grapple a region of the body. The different regions are head, torso, left arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Partial: If you grappled one region, you have a partial grapple. The target can't use that region and has no movement. The target also has a -2 to their Defense, and you gain a +2 to your next grapple.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Advantage: If you grapple two regions, you have Advantage. They take a -3 to all actions other than breaking free. For every success/crit, they get they free a region from your control.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Full: If you grapple three or more regions, you have complete control. They can't take any actions other than trying to break free at a -7.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hold Action – Describe the conditions that will trigger your attack. When triggered, interrupt another person's action no matter their Initiative.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sprint – You run as fast as you can up to 50ft on even ground taking a -4 to Defense score. Opening a door, climbing through a window, jumping over something, diving through or behind, sliding, or anything that could pause your momentum ends the Sprint action.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Advance/Withdraw – Taking all possible precautions, you can move up to 25ft.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Change Position – Going prone, getting up, taking cover, opening a door, climbing over an object, kneeling, etc. Whenever you need to change your position, use this.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lunge – (FREE ACTION) You can attack anyone or interact with anything within 15ft of you or about the size of an average room.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ready Weapon/Item – Drawing a weapon from a holster or pulling out an item from a pocket or outer pouch. If you need to retrieve something from a pack, it will take two rounds.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Reload – 1-3 Rounds. The number of rounds needed to reload a weapon is listed on the weapons sheet.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Targeted Attack – You can choose to target a specific part of the body. You can choose to target 1) Center Mass, which are the chest, abdomen, shoulders, hips, and upper thighs. 2) Limbs (-2 to hit), which are your arms and legs. 3) Small Parts (-4 to hit / x2 damage), which include your hands, feet, joints, vitals, and head. Look to the Temp Wound part under the Damage section below (XXX) for details on this applies.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Second Action – Normally, you can only do one single action in a round during combat. You may choose to try to do two different things in a short time, making both Actions more challenging to accomplish. When attempting to do two Actions in a single round, you receive a -3 to BOTH actions. If either of the actions involves Movement, your Defense score is reduced by -3.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Suppression Fire – (Range weapons only). You may not take a second action if you choose this. Cost 3 uses to perform this action. Anyone attempting an Action in the targeted area receives a -4 to all Actions. If their Action fails, they take half damage from your gun and roll for random hit location.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wait & See – Since you had a higher Initiative than others but don't want to take any action just yet, you have the advantage of observing how things are shaking out before committing to an Action. After anyone else's turn, you can claim the next spot in Initiative order at will. If more than one person is using the Wait & See Action and wants to claim the same place, the one with the higher Initiative goes first. This means if two people Wait & See letting three people take an Action, both can then take their Actions before the 4th person has a chance to act.</li> </ul>CONTESTSWhile not outright combat, sometimes you need to compete using two skills in a contest. There are two types of Contests; Skill vs Skill & Skill vs Resistance. Depending on if your needs social or otherwise, you will use one of the two ways below.Skill vs Skill – When two people are on equal footing, such as when chasing someone through a Bazaar, they both make a skill roll after declaring their actions. Whichever rolls higher wins and gains the advantage. If you have an advantage, the other party takes a -3 to their next skill contest. The rules for multiple actions and targeting a specific body part still apply. Thus if you previously made an Action before the Skill vs Skill contest, you receive a -3 to your action. The aforementioned also applies if you have already defended yourself.Skill vs Resistance – Some Skills are used to dominate through power or finesse, like when trying to gain information by interrogation or guile. The initiator rolls their skill, and the target rolls their resist. Unlike Skill vs Skill contests, these can be modified by the circumstances surrounding this contest. Example: You are being interrogated while being chained upside down after have been mistreated for days. Depending on these circumstances, the initiator can gain a +1 to +3. This is at the GM's discretion only.COVERWhen guns come out, the best way to not get shot is to position yourself behind something. Taking cover in combat is essential. Not all cover is created equal though so, what is between you and violence is vital. All misses do damage to the object you are hiding behind. Objects have an Armor Rating that soaks damage. If any damage is left over, it goes through the object and hits the target. While behind cover people trying to attack, you take a negative to their attack roll. The three types of cover are:Minimal – When less than half your body is covered, all attacks take a -2 to the attack. Examples could be small trees, doorways, or other things that obfuscate a clear path to the target but where they are still exposed.Moderate – When an object covers more than half of your body, and only a small portion is exposed, all attacks take a -4 to their rolls. Cases of this could be when a target is in a bunker or behind a car.Full – When the attacker can't see your entire body, they must make a Blind Attack (-6) to hit you through the object.DAMAGEYour character has three pools that track your Health, Strain, and Stress. In combat, mainly, your Health is going to be reduced because of the damage you take from physical attacks. To emulate the harsh world of the Sticks, you don't just take flat damage to your Health to a slow march 0 with no consequences. Instead, the type of injury you sustain, how much it is, where it hits, and possibly how it affects your emotional state are all accounted for.All damage done above your Threshold has no repercussion beyond reducing the amount of punishment you can keep taking. Whenever you are below your Threshold or when you reach 0 or less in a pool, things start to spiral in dreadful ways. Exceptions to this are if a critical hit is landed with a special effect such as Bleed.First off, when you take damage, you need to know what kind of damage it is and which pool it is effecting. Damage is broken up between three major areas; Physical (Health), Mental (Strain), and Social (Stress). After that, we move on to what possible consequences befall you. Lastly, if ever ANY of your pools reach 0 or less, you gain a Deficiency that will start manifesting itself within 24 hours after the incident. You can never obtain more than one Deficiency from the same event. Deficiencies give you more role-playing opportunities and struggles that emulate the ordeals of trying to survive in the Sticks. Details on Deficiencies are found on p.XXX.Health: Falling from a height, being shot, taking a spear to the gut, or being trampled are all examples of things that can reduce your Health Pool. No matter the source of this injury, tracking it is straightforward. Subtract the total from your Health Pool. In Welcome to the Sticks, you don't just idly watch your Health Pool be reduced with no consequences. Along the way, a variety of things can be happening to your body.Unconscious: First, let's consider what actually does happen when your Health Pool reaches 0 or below. Your body has sustained severe shock, forcing you to fight to remain awake. Roll 2d6 +/- your Endurance Modifier against 8. If you succeed, you can remain conscious for 10 minutes but are now Stunned. In the case you have negative Health, your roll is penalized by the amount under 0. Taking more damage or when ten minutes have elapsed, you must make another Endurance roll. Failing any of these rolls will mean you lose consciousness for 1d4 hours.SIDEBAR Ex. Your Health drops to -3. You must now roll 2d6 +/- your Endurance Modifier against a target number of 8 at a -3 (your negative HP). If you fail, you are unconscious. If you pass, you are still able to take actions but are now Stunned.In addition to this, while you are at 0 HP or below depending on special damage effects like Bleeding will determine how long you can survive.Stunned: Successfully fighting to keep going when your body has suffered severe injuries puts you in a Stunned state. ALL of your actions and Defenses after you reach and/or passed 0 HP have a temporary modifier equal to your negative HP.SIDEBAR Ex. Your HP is -3, and you can still take actions. You decide to shoot at your attacker. You roll 2d6+1(skill)+1(Dex)-3(for being under 0 HP). So now your roll is 2d6-1.Temp Wound: Physical damage from a single incident that exceeds your Threshold will result in a persistent injury. This Temp Wound is equal to the damage over your Threshold. Record the amount of damage as a negative modifier on your character sheet. The usage of that body part in a task receives a negative equaling your wound to the roll. If any part of your body has more than three Temp Wounds, it is too severely damaged to be used until it has sufficient time to recover.SIDEBAR Ex. You are shot with a gun that did 7 damage to you. Your Threshold is4 5, so you would take 2 Temp Wounds. Whenever that body part is used in a task, you roll at a negative equaling your wound. The temp wounds persist until you are back under your Threshold again.Permanent Wounds: Every day, a Temp Wound is not treated, you gain a -1 Permanent Wound to the wounded body part. Additionally, every time you take wounds equaling your Threshold while at 0 HP or below, you take a -1 permanent would. Wounds are accumulated AFTER Health loss. Thus you can start with positive Health before taking damage but end the round below and receive a Permanent Wound. Any part of the body that has 5 or more Permanent Wounds can no longer operate. It could mean it is entirely crippled, withered, burned, or severed. Whatever the cause, it no longer functional.SIDEBAR Ex. Your Threshold is 5, and your Health is at 10. You are hit by a grenade taking 12 damage. Your Health is now -2. Your Threshold is 5, which goes into 12 (total damage) 2 times. Thus you would take 2 Permanent Wounds. Whenever that body part is used in a task, you roll at a negative equaling your wound.Small Part: Some parts of your body such as joints, hands, feet, head & vitals are not as hardy as the rest of your body. Thus when they take damage, double the amount to see if it exceeds your Threshold. This is ONLY used to calculate if the small part of the body takes a Temp Wound or Permanent Wound. In no way does this double the actual damage done to your Health Pool.Death: If ever your Health Pool drops to a negative that is equal to your max Health, you die. If you have 10 Health, you will die when your Health Pool reaches -10.STRAIN: Pushing the limits of your mind and all of it's connecting nervous system by utilizing preternatural abilities, expanding the limits of your body, tapping into the potential of grafted on hardware all reduce your Strain Pool. Each type of extraordinary ability has its' own way of handling the cost of use. The detrimental effects become manifested as this fragile and vital pool is diminished.Unconscious: Upon your Strain, Pool reaching 0 or below. Your nervous system begins shutting down. Roll 2d6 +/- your Resolve Modifier against 8. If you succeed, you can remain conscious for 10 minutes but are now Stunned. In the case you have negative Strain, your roll is penalized by the amount beyond 0. Taking additional Strain damage or the time has elapsed beyond 10 minutes, you must make another Resolve roll. Failing any of these rolls will mean you lose consciousness for 1d4 hours.Stunned: Successfully fighting to keep going with your mind awake after it has suffered critical injuries puts in you a Stunned state. ALL of your Actions after you reach and/or passed 0 HP, have a temporary modifier equal to your negative Strain Pool in addition to other Cumulative Damage effects.Temp Wound: When Strain damage surpasses your Threshold, the Attribute that was used receives a negative modifier equal to the damage beyond it. This applies to all tasks that utilize the Attribute as well. If your System Strain is below 0, your Physical Threshold is reduced by that negative amount making you far more susceptible to physical impairments until you have recovered enough Strain to place you at or above 0.Cumulative Damage: Unlike Health, detrimental Strain effects are cumulative. They aren't based on a single instance of damage to determine the severity of the wounds. If you have taken 5 Strain Damage and your Threshold is 5, taking just a single additional point of Strain damage would increase your total System Strain to 6. You now have a -1 Temp Wound associated with the Attribute that was used to lower your Strain.Attribute Loss: For every incident, you drop below 0 Strain the Attribute used is permanently lowered by 1. Also, acquiring any more Strain damage while under 0 Strain will give you another permanent Attribute reduction. Remember that your Attribute could be decreased enough to change your modifiers, Thresholds & Pools thus creating grisly long term effects.STRESS: Witnessing a gruesome act on a loved one. Being exposed to repeated abuse or torture. The disturbing effects of unnatural abilities. Surviving extreme forms of humiliation. Coming face to face with your mortality through intense violence. Along with these harrowing situations, your Stress Pool is primarily reduced from the direct effects of your Health and Strain pools.Wound Impact: Whenever either Health or Strain Pools gain new wound(s) no matter how many gained during a specific incident, Stress is lowered by 1. Let's say you were in a fierce firefight and took substantial damage to an arm that resulted in 2 Temp Wounds. You would reduce your Stress Pool only by 1 even though you took 2 wounds because it was from the same event. Now, on the other hand, if later such as the next wound your Strain received 1 Temp Wound from the use of a preternatural ability, then again, you would take more Stress damage and lower it by 1. Reaching 0 in Health or Strain Pools is treated as gaining a new wound so it would reduce your Stress by 1. This is the primary way you will lose Stress.Tormented: If you go through an extraordinary ordeal that could produce trauma, the GM can ask for a roll of Composure vs 10. However, much you fail by is the amount of Stress you lose. These won't happen too often since they represent a significant trial of some sort. Even though this is a GM judgment call, here is a guide of some instances that could result in you being Tormented; an extreme condition that could trigger a Flaw, the loss of a body part, human crisis, the humiliation of self-respect, witnessing terrifying acts, or murder of a loved one in front of you. These are RARE and shouldn't be the primary ways of reducing your Stress Pool.Flaw: If ever Stress is reduced to 0 or below, you don't gain a Deficiency like you do with Health and Strain but instead gain a Flaw. The new Flaw must be from the Social types; those the are connected to Presence, Charm, and Composure. After you have a Flaw, you go through a Traumatic Reset.RECOVERYIn the harsh landscape of the Sticks, you would inevitably have taken some form of damage. Anything from grisly ax wounds to frightful body ravaging abilities may befall you, and thus you need some means of recovery. There are natural and assisted ways to recover. It is always slow and challenging. Your recovery path would depend first on if it was your Health Pool, Strain Pool, or Stress Pool, then if you have wounds.Health:Starting with the Health Pool, you naturally gain 1 Health back per full day of uninterrupted rest doing no more than light activities. Any type of exertion will halt the recovery process, and you will have to start all over the following day.Assisted Health Recovery by someone using First Aid can attempt to recover more initial HP. Every Success/Critical Success vs Target Number of 8 (10 if the target is at or below 0 HP) recovers additional Health. Without adequate supplies and gear, this task will be more difficult or even impossible.Say you have lost 5 Health, and your friend has the appropriate supplies to perform First Aid on you. They get 3 success! On the first day of your recovery, you would gain 1 HP for resting a full day and 3 more as a result of the First Aid roll for a total of 4 HP! You are nearly back up to full strength. You can only have First Aid applied to you once.Recovering Temp Wounds takes more time. Someone applying Medical Care on you can attempt to remove more initial Temp Wounds. Roll Medicine vs a Target Number of 12. Every Success/Critical Success removes an additional wound. The patient needs 24 hours of rest without taking any damage to their Health Pool. You naturally heal 1 Temp Wound per week thereafter.However, there are risks involved when performing these complicated procedures. If you fail, the target loses Health equal to the amount you missed by. This could result in making the patient worse or even lead to their death. Also, some types of wounds are more difficult to work on than others. Intricate parts of the body such as the hands, vitals & head need advanced equipment. Attempting to perform surgery without the sophisticated tools required for this delicate task will incur a -3 penalty.Ex. You have 5 temp wounds, and your friend performs Medical Care on you. They get 2 successes! At the end of the first week of uninterrupted recovery, you remove 3 more temp wounds as a result of the Medical Care roll. It will take 2 more weeks for the rest of the temp wounds to heal themselves. No one could perform any more Medical Care rolls to aid you further unless you suffered NEW temp wounds.STRAIN:You regain 1 Strain every day. There are no means to gain more back and a quicker rate. You can not be assisted in the recovery of your Strain outside the sacrificial ability of Neural Surge. And only those with this rare and powerful ability can choose to do it.Temp Wounds from System Strain recover at a rate of 1 wound per week. Again there is nothing at your disposal to speed up the recovery rate of Temp Wounds to your Strain. There could be highly advanced training or special technology, but they are lost knowledge.STRESS:You first need to be removed from the tormenting situation, and your Health or Strain Temp wounds treated before you can begin to recover Stress. After these are taken care of, you began to recover 1 Stress per week.Traumatic Reset happens when you fall to or below 0 Stress. After you gained a new Flaw, your mind tries to readjust itself, and you gain 1 Stress back per day. Your recuperation ends if either your Stress Pool reaches at least 1 more than your Threshold or something that would cause your Stress Pool to dwindle again.</blockquote>

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